Warning: kinda gross pictures

My sister had a tonsillectomy yesterday. Since my parents are in their first week at new schools, they decided to only take yesterday morning off for the surgery, and asked if I could come stay with Cadye for the rest of the week. I've had two C-sections, but I think Cadye's poor throat is in far worse shape than my gut. It hurts her to swallow, eat, drink, talk, even breathe. She's staying on top of her pain meds, and she's really doing pretty well considering, but, man, I'm glad it's not me!






Lol, kinda sums up how she feels!

8 months!!

I'm a few days late for this post, but we've been a little busy.
My sweet Brynna Belle is 8 months! How?! Just 4 short months away from 1 year old!! This baby has changed so much in the last two months, it's crazy! She went from a quiet, timid, stationary little thing to a loud, notice me, into everything, totally mobile big girl!
~at her appt last month, she weighed 17lbs, 6 oz. (The last time I reported her weight, I said she weighted 12 something, when I should have said 15 lbs. We haven't had a massive growth spurt in the last couple months!)
~has 6 teeth! 4 on top, 2 on bottom, and she knows how to use them! She likes to bite my shoulder, hard! and laughs when I get on to her. Fortunately, she's only bitten me while nursing a couple times.
~With the biting has come her first discipline. Verbal discipline has only made her laugh, so I've tapped her hand a few times.
~still nursing, but not as much as she was. When we started solids, my milk production took a little bit of a dive. (Something else returned at almost the exact same time, and that was probably the real reason. And can I just say that I think it's totally unfair that I can no longer have kids, but I still have to deal with girly stuff like that!)
~anyway, lol, because of the dip in my milk, Brynna is eating solids four times a day. Oatmeal first thing in the morning, lunch and dinner of vegetables, and rice cereal right before bedtime.
~the cereal before bedtime is an attempt to get her to sleep better, and it's not working. Brynna was sleeping through the night at 2 months old, and not just through the night, about 10 or 12 hours in a row! But about 2 months ago, she started getting up 3, 4, sometimes 5 times a night. And let me tell you, this momma is tired! Finally, a few nights ago, she slept from 10:30 to 7:30, which was awesome, but the next we day we left for my parents house, and she's been up several times a night every night we've been down here. Maybe when we finally get home and get back into a regular routine, she'll be better about it again. I could really use the rest!
~she is crawling everywhere, and fast! Most of the time, she crawls on her right foot and left knee. She pushes up on her hands and feet a lot, too, and doesn't understand why she's not moving.
~she's pulling up on everything, and in her monitor, I watched her take about 4 steps cruising around her crib.
~loves walking while holding onto your fingers, but she's still way wobbly. If you try to sit her on the ground, she locks her legs and won't sit, she wants to be up all the time.
~her only word right now is dada, but it's not just a sound anymore, she uses it correctly. But she talks all.day.long. And she does this long, drawn out grunt thing that is hilarious. I thought she was going to be my quiet little child, but it looks like I'm going to be the only quiet one in my household for the next 18 years or so.
~sort of waves and says bye-bye, but I think it's one of those things that we think we hear just because we want to.
~loves, loves, loves her big sister, and the feeling is absolutely reciprocated. My girls are giddy when they see each other first thing in the mornings. It melts my heart.
~has the biggest blue eyes, the softest blonde hair, and is becoming a beautiful little girl... not that I'm biased or anything ;)



Brynna had to get in on the action of Sister's princess party, too. "If the tiara fits..."

What a 3 year old looks like

What will she look like as a teenager?!?!?!

1st 3rd birthday

Today we had the first of two birthday parties for D'Laney. She's turning 3, THREE!! I can't believe it, and I'm doing my best not to think about it. I just can't handle it. With Brynna turning 8 months yesterday (more about that tomorrow) and all the changing and growing that she's doing daily, I'm just having a little bit of trouble dealing with my firstborn now considered a pre-schooler!
We had a fabulous princess party for D'Laney with my side of the family. We'll celebrate again with Cameron's side while we're on vacation with them next weekend, on her actual birthday. The party was complete with tiaras, big diamond rings, and beautiful princess dress, and a castle cake made by yours truly. The cake turned out a lot better than I thought it would, so I was pretty proud of it! I have friends who are very talented when it comes to cake making, and their stuff looks very professional. My cakes are about as far from professional as they could be, but I love making them myself for my loved ones, however homemade they may look.
I'm just going to post the link to my facebook page for all the pictures, but here's my Princess D'Laney and her wonderful daddy.

What a mess...

And I'm not just talking about my house. Actually, it's rather spic and span right now, except for the laundry. (I'm choosing to believe it's done, too.)
No, the mess has been pretty much everything else around here. Some of it has been good, some not so good.
The good mess is our wreck of a back yard. We've torn down 63% of the buggy shed, otherwise known as the garage, and we're just waiting for a weekend where Cameron can bring some heavy equipment home from the yard to get it finished, and pray no neighborhood kids walk through and the whole thing collapses. This past weekend we tore down the backyard fence, which was buried about 4 inches and the post were cemented into their holes. So now we have a small, waterless mote protecting our backyard from cats and hoodlums roaming the alley. Cameron plans to start rebuilding the fence tonight and hopefully get the garage torn down this weekend.
The bad mess has been our Internet service. It's been pretty sketchy over the last two years, but I fully believe in supporting small town businesses, so I let it slide. However, after 2 weeks of almost no service, I had enough. I cancelled and switched to a major provider. We got everything going and set an installation date. That came and went. After 2 days I called to see what the problem was, and after an hour and a half on the phone, we finally got it all set. As of yesterday, I now have even faster service, plus a brand new home phone line. That isn't working. So I'll be on the phone again as soon as my cell charges. Ugh! It's been almost a month dealing with the internet problems, and who knows how long it'll take to get the phone going.
Going without internet for a short time shouldn't turn my life upside down, but it sure seems like it does. I can't birthday shop (it's much easier looking online and then going to the store for something specific,) I've missed a couple of emails that I really needed, and I haven't had a way to check on bills, etc. So frustrating!
Ahh, that feels so much better. I love having this to rant on. My husband loves it, too, saves him from having to hear it. Again.
I'll post later today or tomorrow on what my sweet little girls are up to (hint: a lot!)

something new every day!

It's been a big month for Brynna.
She turned 6 months old!
Her first little tooth poked through, quickly followed by another, and two more will be crowding their way in over the next few days.
She has started sitting up by herself. She skipped tripoding and sits very straight, although she falls backwards often.
And biggest of all, since we hit the 6 mo. mark, she had her first taste of something other than momma! We started rice cereal last night, and she did really well! She acted like she liked it for a couple of bites, but then decided it wasn't so great. I think the cereal might have gotten cold though, so we'll try it again tonight and make sure it stays warm. Daddy did pretty good too, for a little while. His ultra sensitive gag reflex did kick in, though, so momma had to take over.

6 months one way, half a year the other

However you want to look at it, my baby is growing way too fast!
~12 1/2 lbs. (80%)
~24 inches (60%)
~on her knees rocking, but doesn't move yet
~doesn't really need to, that kid can roll across our big living room before you can blink!
~if she would be still, she could sit up, but she's too busy reaching for something, anything, or craning her neck to watch her silly sister
~has two teeth that have broken through, the bottom left and top right. I've never known a kid that has teethed in that order, it's going to look so funny when they come down further! And the companion teeth don't look like they're coming anytime soon. Teething has been a little more difficult for Brynna than it was for D'Laney. She's been fussy, run some very low grade fever, and wants momma to hold her all day long. But she's going through all of this 3 months sooner than D'Laney did. I have to admit that I'm a little bit sad about the teeth. She's my last baby, and the sweet little gummy grins aren't going to be around much longer.
~she's learned to blow raspberries with her tongue, and does so 90% of the time she's awake. Combined with the insane amount of drool from the teething, and anything within a 2 foot radius is going to get soaked.
~still sucks her thumb, and I love it.
~she is such a happy baby. She smiles constantly, and she'll kinda giggle, but we canNOT get that child to laugh. I think she's going to be kinda serious and a little shy, which should balance her crazy sister out nicely. But I wish she would laugh at us, it's always such a sweet sound.
~we'll start rice cereal when daddy gets home later this week.
~Keva will take 6mo. pics for us next week. So excited! Hopefully she'll sit up a little better for her.

We've been pretty busy around here. Camp is next week, and packing for two kids is hard! Getting all the clothes together is easy, but finding things to entertain an almost 3 year old (!) and a 6 month old is the hard part. I have plenty of water toys, but it'll get too hot for even that, so I also have to pack movies, books, puzzles, coloring stuff, etc. to keep them occupied in the cool camper. I have to pack a lot of food, too. Not just for D'Laney, but with my food allergies, it's hard to eat a lot of what comes out of the cook shack. My mom and sister came and stayed with me this weekend to help get some stuff ready, so I'm almost ready! The only things left to do are last minute things, like buying groceries and packing toiletries. So excited!!